To fully understand Psychic Lemon, you must first know where they come from. The band is based in Cambridge in Eastern England, and they say they play “dark psych for Austerity Britain.” I had always heard the term austerity thrown around regarding the U.K., but I never quite understood the meaning.
Austerity is a budget-cutting campaign that Britain’s Conservative-led government launched in 2010 in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Government spending was trimmed across English society, including funding cuts for police, prisons, road maintenance, and libraries. Fourteen years after the campaign started, it’s had a stark impact on life in England, leading to increased poverty and general social malaise.
Out of this increasing hellscape, it’s easy to understand the fury behind the drone rock of a band like Psychic Lemon, which emerged with a debut self-titled album in 2016 and recently released The Unheimlich Kingdom in February. On Bandcamp, the band gives a dark prognosis for life in the U.K. in its description of the new record. “Our expectations have been downsized,” they say. “Zombie economics and vampire capitalism – metaphors morph into representation.”
Listening to Psychic Lemon’s records since 2016, you’ll notice they’ve always played a jagged-edged psychedelic rock style. However, with The Unheimlich Kingdom, their sound and fury have reached new vengeful heights. This is a band with righteous rage that is finding catharsis in its music-making.
To an extent, I understand the rage. Things are also not going very well in America. The country is incredibly polarized and feels like a ticking time bomb. Many – if not most – Americans live paycheck to paycheck and are one or two bad breaks away from destitution. Unfettered capitalism has hallowed out our communities and left a trail of despair.
Over in the U.K., Psychic Lemon says, “Disorder and decay is our daily fare.” They bottled up this negativity on the new record and let loose with a brutal, droning sonic attack. The Unheimlich Kingdom consists of just four songs, but the runtime is 41 minutes and 15 seconds. The final track (also the title track) is the album’s centerpiece and sees Psychic Lemon exploring the dark depths of psychedelia with unrelenting repeition and dense slabs of sound. They are less trying to expand our minds than utterly destroy them.
The Unheimlich Kingdom is the group’s fourth studio album and the first since 2019’s Freak Mammal, also released on Drone Rock Records. This new LP is also the first one since they’ve downsized to a two-piece following the departure of bass player Andy Hibberd. The fact the band only consists of two members makes it even more remarkable, considering the massive sound of The Unheimlich Kingdom. How can only two guys make this much noise?
Psychic Lemon is also the essence of a DIY band in 2024. They record, engineer, produce, and master their music themselves. While their influences are broad, their choice artists include Goat, Hawkwind, and Amon Düül II. I would add that they seem to have a spiritual kinship with Brazil’s Firefriend, another psych band known for angry, droning rock and a penchant for socialism.
Dig into The Unheimlich Kingdom for a taste of darker psych of the best kind. Psychic Lemon may be one of the best psych bands in the U.K. right now, and they continue to improve with each new record. If society collapses sometime soon – as some suspect it might – don’t say Psychic Lemon didn’t warn us.
Check out The Unheimlich Kingdom by Psychic Lemon on Bandcamp here.
You can support Psychic Lemon by finding them on Bandcamp or social media (Instagram, Facebook).
You can support Drone Rock Records by finding them on their official website or social media (Instagram, Facebook).
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